A BRICKWORKS is building for the future - by unveiling plans for a new quarry.

The York Handmade Brick Company, based at Alne, near Easingwold, is applying for planning permission to open up a new 10-acre site for clay extraction.

The company, which makes bricks and terracotta tiles, has exhausted its current quarry and is applying for digging rights at a site to the south of the factory.

It wants to extract about 500,000 tonnes of clay from the 10-acre area, to a depth of 10 metres. The work would be carried out over the next 25 years and once the clay was exhausted the quarry would be restored by landfill and landscaped.

If approved by North Yorkshire County Council, it would mean a 30 per cent increase in the amount of clay extraction within the boundaries of the site.

Company chairman David Armitage said the application would secure the future of the company, which employs 32 people and has seen its turnover rise by 25 per cent in the past three years.

One particular growth area has been its terracotta tiles, which are particularly in vogue. Mr Armitage said sales of the tiles had doubled in the past two years and they now accounted for about one-tenth of the firm's turnover.

Mr Armitage added: "We are a small company. Most people do not know what we are doing round the back. Our supply is exhausted and we are putting in an application to ensure the continuation of the production."

He added: "We need this planning application, we believe we have the support of the parish council and the county council."

He said he was aware that planning applications for mineral extraction were seen as "sensitive". But he said companies had to meet vigorous ecological criteria before applications were approved.

And he said the company had submitted detailed proposals of how it would infill the quarry once it was exhausted. Work on restoring the exhausted quarry is almost complete, he added.

There have been brickworks at Alne since 1933. The York Handmade Brick Company took over the site in 1988.

Mr Armitage said the growing demand for his products stemmed from a boom in home improvement work, with homeowners building conservatories and new kitchens and the popularity of relaying floors with tiles.

About five per cent of the company's products are sold overseas.

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